ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Kirksville Lady Tigers had qualified for their second straight Elite Eight with their win over St. Dominic. This season KHS was faced with trying to beat nationally-ranked Incarnate Word Academy if they wanted to play at Mizzou Arena. Kirksville was unable to play the role of David as they fell, 78-26.

Although they only managed six points in the first eight minutes the Lady Tigers had chances to score but just weren’t able to get the bounces they needed to keep within double-digits. The ladies were able to keep up with the Red Knights speed and didn’t have a problem with their athletic ability, it was the size of IWA that was causing the most problems for Kirksville.

Incarnate Word started three girls that were at least 5-11, including one who played on the wing, so when KHS got by the pressure defense a shot blocker at the rim met them.

The game started to get away from the Lady Tigers late in the second quarter as the missed layups and deflected shots started to catch up with the ladies. With just over five minutes to go in the half Kirksville was down 27-10. IWA went on a 17-1 run and closed the half up 44-11.

Coming out of the locker room down over 30 points and facing the No. 12 team in the nation would have been a perfect time to call it a season. The impact on the scoreboard won’t show it but the Lady Tigers came out and forced three straight IWA turnovers and were still diving on the floor for loose balls. After the mini KHS run the Red Knights went on another extended run this time it was 23-2, and made the score going to the fourth 69-16.

For Kirksville the loss brought to an end one of the most successful runs in the high school’s sports history. Prior to last season it had been eight years since the Lady Tigers had even won the NCMC. They have now won consecutive sectional tournament games.

“We are not going to focus on this game and what happened out there. We are going to focus on what this group of seniors has done for this school and the program. It’s big for the girls program at Kirksville because this is the group of girls that was able to get out of sectional play and to do it back-to-back is a big feat. The biggest thing for us is thank you to those people that followed us and made the drive down here to watch us, we know we didn’t play close, but them being in the stands meant a lot to us,” said Kirksville head coach Sara Williams.

Page 2 of 2 - The group of seniors includes all five starters: Kendly Blanke, Hailey Phillips, McKenzie Russell, Ashton Vorkink, and Nichole Cook. They finished their careers with a 24-2 record in their senior season.

The only two losses on the Lady Tigers resume came to the Class 3 State runner-up Cameron, and to the No. 12 ranked team in the country.

The Lady Tigers will now look toward the future as they will begin next season with a whole new starting five and be looking to players like Sarah Lamp, Emily Schwend, and Arabelle Reed to continue the success that this group of seniors has started.`